Of Bullies and Lovers
by 9thDimen
Summary: AU. It's the first day of school and I already screwed up the rest of my high school life. Why? Because Shiro has targeted me, and if you don't know, he's the biggest bully in our school. He loves to torture me in more ways than one... oh, did I mention that I find his twin brother, Ichigo, attractive? So does that mean I find Shiro attractive, too? Ichigo/oc or Shiro/oc
1. Chapter One: First Day

Of Bullies and Lovers

Chapter One: First Day

It wasn't supposed to happen like the way it did.

Someone had a rather tight hold on the collar of my shirt and was gripping it tightly. Almost too tight. Like, so tight it was almost hard to breath.

The hand belonged to a guy named Shiro. He was the bully of the new school I was currently attending. In fact, this was my first day. Yeah, I know, I was already getting into trouble on the first day of school. Was I a delinquent?

…Okay, maybe that wasn't the best first question to be asked mostly because at my old school I always seemed to get into a lot of trouble. I didn't think I was a delinquent, but others may had said otherwise. Like my brother and father, for example. Anyways, back to the bully. He was the top bully of this particular school. Everyone was afraid of him, including my new friend Keigo who was my very first friend I made in this school. He was one of Shiro's favorite victims. So when I saw my said friend about to get punched, (again), I decided to intervene and push Shiro away.

That was a bad idea. Better yet, that was the stupidest idea I ever had the pleasure of acting out in my entire life. That was the beginning of hell for me because ever since then, Shiro never left me alone… and no, he wasn't necessarily bullying me in the way you would think.

Let me start from the beginning, or relatively close to the beginning.

Today was my first day of school in which I was dreading. I hated when I started a new school, especially while still in high school where one mistake could send anyone to the loser end of the stick. I didn't want to be a loser. I didn't want to be bullied.

I didn't tolerate bullying. Verbal bullying was the easiest to get out of. You either laugh it off or come up with something wittier to say back. But when it came to physical bullying, I always fought back – or, at least defended from getting my ass, or my friends, handed to me.

Okay, getting off topic.

My morning getting ready was like any other morning. The uniform was a drag but I didn't complain mostly because I knew my older brother worked hard trying to get me into this school, so I put it on without any verbal complaining. The school wasn't anything too fancy, but with my past record they didn't want to tarnish their school reputation with someone like myself. That was what they first said until my brother convinced them otherwise. I'd always wondered what he said to them.

Which, now that I thought about it, what they said was quite comical when thinking about how Shiro acted during school hours.

Sitting at the table with my older brother, who was now in college, and younger brother, who was in middle school, was quiet to say the least. Usually, we always had something to chat about, but I had the feeling the two could sense my uneasiness.

"So," I started. "How's your guys' mornin'?"

My younger brother, Yoshi, (Yeah, I know, like Yoshi from Mario Brothers), shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat his scrambled eggs with disinterest. Like me, he had curly red hair that he kept short and clean cut. If he let them grow out, they would curl into a mini-afro, something he used to be made fun of during elementary school. He also had bright blue eyes like me as well, with a small rounded shaped face that fit his eleven-year-old age. I kept my hair long, the weight pulling my curls down into a light wave and curled near the bottom. I liked my hair, it almost looked like I spent time in the morning curling it when in actuality it just dried the way it did. I had more of a heart shaped face with high cheek-bones and a more firm jaw than most girls which gave me more definition and character than other girls my age who had softer features.

My older brother had black hair like our father, and his face was what most girls called chiseled and had "rock star qualities". Even though he was my brother I knew he was handsome. Did he himself knew how handsome he was? In a way he did mostly from all his past stalkers, (both male and female), telling him, but he never acted on his looks. He never took advantage of girls like most guys with his looks would had done. Out of all three of us siblings, he was always the more serious and wise one. He'd always took on the responsibilities of taking care of us and making sure we were fed and whatnot.

You see, my father was hardly ever around. He was always on business trips. So, my brother took on the fatherly roll when he became old enough to take care of us.

My older brother, Akira if you were wondering what his name was, moved his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose and glanced over at me. He placed the newspaper he was reading down on the table. "Perfect. How's your morning, Naomi?"

I returned his smile. I tried my best to act happy about everything. "Good. Everything's going good." He continued to smile, but I knew he saw through my façade. Thankfully, he didn't call me out on it. Seemed like he didn't want to cause any problems on the first day of school.

He prepared lunch for both my little brother and I before we headed our separate ways to school. That morning couldn't have had been anymore awkward.

I sighed heavily to myself as I walked to school. I was going to get through the day without any problems, just walk into school and attend every class like a normal student and only talk to people I knew were not going to be of any trouble.

At least, that was what I tried to tell myself as I was walking to hell.

When I arrived, my first destination was the principal's office. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a kid crying in a room that split from the main office. He was hunched over with his head in his hands and was sobbing like there was no tomorrow. After further examination, I noticed his shirt had a little bit of blood on it. Was he in a fight?

An older man in uniform, which I guessed was the principle, or maybe the councilor, was sitting at the desk looking at the kid apologetically, but when he saw me peering in he instantly stood up and walked over to the door and closed it while giving me the stink eye. Eh, guess I shouldn't have had been prying in other people's business. I wondered if he got in a fight or something. He sure did look like it.

"Ah, you must be Miss Uramasa," a soft spoken woman said from in front of me returning my attention forward. She sat behind the clerks' desk and was smiling up at me sweetly. She looked pretty nice. She had long black hair that was braided neatly behind her back. Her warm smile had made me smile in return.

"Yes," I finally replied. "That's me, Naomi Uramasa."

"Please to meet you Uramasa-san, please call me Unohana. I've been expecting you today. Here," she slide an envelope across her desk toward me. I walked over and took the envelope before giving her my full attention once more. "This holds your schedule as well as your locker number and combination. I've asked a fellow student – ah, here he is now." I turned around to see who she was referring too. I saw a nice looking boy with shaggy brown hair and a dopey smile come trotting into the office.

"Unohana-sama, you called?" he asked all too cheerfully.

"Yes, I was hoping you could escort Uramasa-san here to her classes since the two of you have similar schedules. If it's to no consolation to you, Asano-san."

Asano and I locked gazes. Both his eyes grew wide as he looked me up and down, his goofy grin only grew wider. "Of course Unohana-sama. I'll be more than happy to!" Again, he was sounding way too cheerful.

"I'm glad to hear it." Her attention was turned back toward me again, her creepy, yet still warming smile had not left her face. "I hope your first day of school will be delightful, Uramasa-san."

Again, I returned her smile. Both Asano and I walked out of the office together, his goofy grin not leaving his face. "You're the new student, huh?" He was such a dork. Wasn't if obvious?

"How you guess?" I said sarcastically, but I added a smile at the end just so he knew I didn't mean it to sound mean.

"My name is Keigo Asano, it's nice to meet you…?" He bowed respectively toward me; I returned the bow.

"Naomi Uramasa, but please call me by my first name, I hate going by my last."

"Noted, Naomi-chan." I couldn't help but laugh. He was flirting with me.

"Chan, huh? Already trying to get familiar with me?" He scratched the back of his head and sheepishly laughed.

"Sorry if I offended you."

"Not at all. Since we have most of our classes together I'm pretty sure we'll most likely become good friends. You seem like a nice enough guy."

"You seem like a nice person too, Naomi-chan. So, what's your locker number? Some of the lockers here can be pretty difficult."

I smiled at his generosity. I brought the vanilla envelope up and opened it, pulling out the papers and sorting through them until I found the one with my locker number on it. "201, it seems."

"201?" I looked over at him when I heard his tone suddenly turn from cheerful and happy to timid and scared.

"Is there something wrong with that number?" He looked away from me and at the far wall. He still seemed worried.

"Well, you see, we sort of have this guy that no one likes and is sort of a bully. Especially to new students, and your locker is near his…" he trailed off. He looked over toward me again and I smiled to try and reassure him. It didn't seem to work.

"Don't worry about me. I know how to handle bullies. They're all the same, full of shit until someone teaches them a lesson." That seemed to make him smile a bit.

"Well, anyways, let me walk you to your locker just in case you need my help with the combination… and also to escort you to our homeroom, my lady." I laughed and swatted at him and his antics. He walked me to my locker like he said he would. The halls were beginning to fill up with students, some were giving me stares in which I guessed was because I was new. Everyone liked to stare at the new kid. I didn't mind. It was to be expected, I guessed.

"Here it is," Keigo announced as he leaned against the locker next to mine. I pulled out the slip of paper that had my combination on it and began to work the dial of my locker. "Hey, you got it on the first try! Nice job!" I snickered.

"It's not like that's the first locker I had to open with a combination, you dork."

He opened his mouth to comment, probably in reply about me calling him a dork, but stopped short when someone called his name. Instantly, his face began to pale. "Asano! What brings you here!?" The guy's voice was sly, almost smooth sounding, but hoarse at the same time. Wait, how did that make any sense? Anyways, the guy's voice was unusual to say the least. I looked behind Asano to see a boy that was pretty tall with stark white hair and bronze, maybe even gold, eyes come from behind him and wrap an arm around his neck like they were old friends. I would had thought so if it wasn't for the fact Keigo looked like he was going to wet himself.

"N-nothing Shiro," he stuttered and sounded a little frantic about, what I guessed, the situation he found himself in. "I'm doing nothing, I was just about to walk to my class!" Yeah, he had definitely sounded like he was going to pee himself.

"Is that so," Shiro smiled, then his eyes landed on me, his smile growing ten-fold. "Who's your pretty little friend here? Haven't seen her around?"

"Her? Oh, she's no one!" Keigo tried his best to defuse the situation, but was failing miserably. "You haven't seen her before? She's been here since, like, forever. You never noticed her, Shiro-san?" He was trying to protect me. I thought that was kind of cute.

He let go of Keigo's neck and pushed him aside, causing him to almost trip away from us. Shiro, and what a stupid, almost girly name that was, was now standing in front of me, his head looming over mine as he inched forward and I inched back until my back was hitting the lockers behind me. I glared up at him, but that only seemed to make his smile grow. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered a pretty thing such as yourself." He reached forward, his hand inching toward my cheek like he wanted to touch it, but I swatted him away, rejecting his advance. "Feisty, aren't we? Something's telling me you're a new kid, because," his eyes traveled down my body as he took another step toward me, letting them land on my chest. "I'm pretty sure I would remember these." He pointed toward my chest, and before I knew it his finger poked one… mound rather hard.

A loud cracking noise made everyone in the hallway freeze, then turned toward the scene that I had created. Shiro was a couple of feet back, his hand on his chin with a rather surprised expression plastered on his face. He was staring me down with absolute hate. My chest was heaving as I tried to regain my cool. I held my hand to my chest, the hand that punched Shiro straight in the jaw. I continued to glare at the so called bully. "You're a jackass!" I practically shrieked. "Who the hell do you think you are going around poking a woman's breasts, pervert! That fucking hurt!" It did hurt. I was actually surprised on how much it hurt. It almost felt like his finger somehow pinched me hard.

He started to glare. No. He more than just glared. The stare his was giving me was menacing, lethal. It looked like he wanted to kill me. I didn't let up. I matched his death glare with my own. He took a step forward threateningly, but I stood my ground. Not letting myself move from that spot like it would somehow mean my defeat.

The warning bell rang, stopping Shiro from his stalking. He looked away from me momentarily, then glanced back at me and put his sly smile back into place. "Saved by the bell." He turned away from me, placing both hands into his pockets. "Watch your back after class, little girl." And with that, he left.

"Holy crap!" Keigo exclaimed from beside me. I turned toward him to see his eyes as big as saucers. "I've never, ever, seen someone hit Shiro and not get their butts kicked!" I smiled while shaking my hand that was still stinging from the punch. His jaw was rock solid.

"Yeah, well, like I said. I can take care of bullies easy."

"Yeah, but now you're his next target. You heard him, he said watch your back after class." It was nice to see someone other than my brother care about my well-being, even though I'd only known him for not even an hour. "Well, we better get to class. Ichigo is in our next class, he'll probably know what to do."

"Ichigo?"

Keigo scratched the back of his head while diverting his eyes away from mine. It was actually kind of cute. "He's Shiro's twin brother." Well, won't that be interesting.

"Ichigoooooooo!" Keigo yelled with glee as he flung his body forward toward someone when we entered our homeroom. The guy who he called Ichigo, elbowed poor Keigo in the jaw and let him fall to the ground in a twitching frenzy of pain. My eyes stayed on Keigo's twitching form, but they slowly moved up to the boy Keigo tried to tackle, or at least I think he tried to tackle. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what he was doing… Ah, yep. That guy was definitely Shiro's twin brother. But unlike Shiro, his hair was orange and his eyes were a natural brown, and also unlike Shiro, this guy had a scowl on his face that made me think it was permanent.

And like he knew I was staring at him he moved his eyes up to mine, raising an eyebrow at me with question. Did I mention he was pretty damn gorgeous?

"Ichigo!" Keigo popped up off the ground with his hands clasped and butt wiggling back and forth with excitement. "Meet my new friend, Naomi-chan! Today's her first day!"

"Hey," he said with no interest. In fact, he sounded uncomfortable. He was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and was diverting his eyes away from mine. I couldn't comprehend his actions. Was he embarrassed, uncomfortable, or… I didn't really know at the time.

"Wanna know something awesome and yet really, really, really, bad at the same time!?" Keigo didn't wait for him to answer before he continued. "She punched Shiro and got away with it - sort of! Well, besides the threat about watching her back after class!" Was everything he said always had to end with an exclamation mark? Seemed when he was talking to Ichigo he did.

"What!?" Ichigo sounded genuinely surprised. He was looking at me again, his eyes wide. "You didn't. Do you have any idea what you just done to yourself?" Now he sounded mad.

"That bad, huh?" I sheepishly laughed, but the way he was still scowling at me made me think he didn't think it was funny in the least.

"It's more than bad. My brother is insane."

"I think I can handle myself."

"You really are clueless, aren't you." Now he was getting on my nerves. The way he said that wasn't a question, he was stating a fact. That jackass.

"You don't know anything about me," I defend.

"I don't need to. All I need to know is how much of an idiot you are and the fact you decided to pick a fight with my idiot brothers just shows you're a moron."

I snapped.

"You don't know me. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I've always been capable of taking care of myself. He's only one guy, I don't see why you and everyone else are so scared of him. Why don't you guys just gang up on him or something instead of being idiots and sitting on the sidelines?" Ichigo opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him before he could speak. "I don't want to hear it. If you're so keen on making assumptions about me after only talking to me for less than ten minutes then you are a very shallow and pathetic person." Again, he looked at me with surprise. I turned around, not wanting to see his face any longer, and walk over to a random seat to sit down. When class started there was a seating chart so I ended up sitting in the back of the room, far away from Ichigo which I was grateful for. Keigo sat next to Ichigo, but occasionally I would see him glance back at me and give me an apologetic look. I smiled in return, trying my best to reassure him. I hoped he didn't think I was mad at him as well.

When the bell rang I gathered my material and waited by the door for Keigo. When Ichigo passed me he didn't even look at me, he continued to walk forward while scowling at nothing in particular. Jackass. Keigo quickly walked me to my next class. Even though I wasn't scared of Shiro, I wasn't planning on staying around for him to find me and pick a fight with me. Something told me he wouldn't mind hitting a girl.

We made it to class without an incident. The whole way there I didn't see a head of white hair which I was grateful for. Keigo and I sat in the back row together when we entered class. Kids were staring at me. Were they also staring at me during my last class but I was too pissed to notice?

"Their surprised that you're still walking," Keigo whispered next to me when he noticed me glaring at all the people around us. I gave him a quizzical look, so he elaborated. "Everyone knows about your situation with Shiro. When he makes a threat he usually goes through with it no matter what."

"I see. Oh, I've been meaning to ask you," I began, leaning in closer to him. "What's up with you and Shiro? You seemed pretty scared of him earlier, more so than a normal victim would?"

He looked away from me and out the window he was sitting next to. "He likes to pick on me. A lot. I guess you could say I'm his favorite victim." I gapped at him.

"Why would a bully have a favorite? Who the hell does he think he is?"

"Hey, it's fine. Really. Ichigo is a good friend of mine and Shiro doesn't mess with me when he's around."

"But what about when he's not around?" When he didn't reply, I got my answer. "Why the hell doesn't anyone stick up to him? He's only one guy."

"But he isn't just one guy." He turned to look back at me. I could see the sadness in his eyes. "He has friends, all of them are tough and can beat up anyone who stands up to them."

"Then why doesn't anyone tell a teacher or something? Get them expelled?"

"Two of his friends, Ulquiorra Cifer and Shinji Hirako, both have – erm, rich parents that make very generous donations to our school…"

"That's stupid! What the hell has this world come to?!" I couldn't have said anything more. I was fuming too much to want to say anything more. That school was worse than my last.

Class went by quick. Like the last I had to introduce myself to everyone. No one asked me questions which was probably because of the whole Shiro incident. Pansies. Next class was the same deal. Everything went by quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch period. Something I was dreading in all last class period.

"You can sit with my group if you want. He probably won't bother you if he sees you sitting with his brother." Keigo tried his best to help me.

"I don't think Ichigo would like that too much. I don't think he likes me."

We were at his locker now. I didn't want to go back to my locker just yet. I had a strange feeling Shiro was waiting for me to show up. "Nah, he doesn't know you. That's how he acts when he's worried about someone. He really hates his brothers bullying."

"Then why doesn't he try to stop him?"

"They're to evenly matched; they fought plenty of times in the past. Ichigo would win some, then Shiro – it was never ending. But Ichigo couldn't be with him twenty-four/seven… and then something bad happened."

"What happened?"

Keigo shut his locker slowly. He didn't move as he stared at his lockers door, then he finally turned to look at me with those sad eyes of his. "Ichigo got close with this girl named Orihime. I don't know the details but once Shiro saw them dating and stuff, he did something to her and now she won't even talk to Ichigo. She won't even talk to me and we use to be close friends."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah. Ichigo took it pretty hard. I'm pretty sure he loved her. I think Shiro threatened him after that and ever since then Ichigo doesn't get in Shiro's business unless it has something to do with his close friends."

"That bastard!" I flung my arms up in the air from exasperation, then crossed them when they came back down. I didn't think I could be this mad at one guy. "Someone definitely needs to teach him a lesson."

"Hey now, don't be coming up with any suicidal ideas. Ichigo's right about one thing; he's insane. He'll destroy you. He's like a leader of his own little gang. He has more insane lackeys outside of school. One of them is Grimmjow Jagerjack and he's a genius when it comes to street fighting. I've seen him take on five guys at once without breaking a sweat." Keigo shivered when a memory popped in his head. I shook mine, hating how that one guy had so much control.

"Do you have a lunch?" He changed the subject, giving me a questionable look. I scratched my head and sighed in defeat. I had to admit I was a little grateful he changed the subject. I jad about enough of that guy for the day.

"Yeah, but it's in my locker…"

"I see," he smiled and perked up, his back straight with excitement of an idea that must had suddenly popped into his mind. "Hey, I'll buy you something at the café nearby. It'll be my treat for punching Shiro." I laughed.

"Sure, sounds great."

We walked through the halls together. Everything was going great, so far. I didn't see any white hair all day, I was going to get a free meal, and, to top it all off, I made a friend. I'd had friends before, don't get me wrong, but it usually took me about a month to obtain one. I wasn't very social despite what you may think.

Of course, those thoughts jinxed me.

"Asano! Little girl! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere."

Both Keigo and I stopped in our tracks when we heard his voice. Slowly, we turned around and saw a stalking Shiro with a couple of other guys trailing behind him coming toward the two of us.

It was silence before the storm. Everyone in the hallway grew quiet as they watched Shiro and his gang stalk toward us. He had a huge, triumphant grin plastered on his face as he stared me down, not once looking over at Keigo.

I felt Keigo pull on my arm like he was trying to get my attention, but I ignored him, I didn't want to let up my stare down with Shiro. I wouldn't let him had the satisfaction. Then, out of the blue, Keigo steps in front of me blocking my view of Shiro.

He was protecting me.

Shiro didn't seem to like that. He was now glaring at Keigo and was also frowning which seemed unnatural for him. The two guys behind him were both still looking at me. One of them had a creepy ass smile on his face and had short blonde hair. The other seemed like an emo with black hair and piercing green eyes which, randomly, were actually kind of pretty.

"Get out of my way, Asano," Shiro growled. Keigo gulped but stood his ground regardless.

"No."

And just like that, Keigo was on the ground withering in pain, clutching his hands to his bleeding nose. I looked down at him dumbfounded, too stupid to move and help him as my mind tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened. It all happened too quickly. He advanced on Keigo, still glaring, but this time I reacted and stood in front of Keigo like he did for me. That made Shiro stop and look at me with curiosity. That sickly smile back on his face.

"Isn't that sweet," he began. "The little girl is protecting her boyfriend from getting his ass kicked."

"He's not my boyfriend," I had no idea why I had to clarify that. "And you're a perverted dick-wad who needs to learn to be more respectful. He didn't do anything to deserve."

"You know it's not nice to call people names, and you're wrong on one thing. He did deserve to be beat. He didn't listen to what I told him to do."

"You're sick. Do you just expect everyone to get on their hands and knees for you when you ask them to? I don't know what sick fantasy you live in but that's not the real world, idiot. Grow up you lunatic." Before I knew it, the collar of my uniform was being yanked forward and I was being dragged and forced to be face to face with the menacing glare of the unnaturally white haired bully.

And this was where we first started off at. I was about to get my face pummeled in on my first day of school. Couldn't wait to explain that to my brother.

"You have quite a tongue in that pretty little mouth of yours." He was back to smiling again. He had to be bipolar. He reached up with his free hand and began to caress my cheek like he tried to do in the morning. "I wouldn't mind putting it to good use."

And with that little statement I had him hunched over in pain, his hand that was previously grasping my collar now pressed tightly to his crotch. What? He left it wide open? Besides, he was sexually harassing me! I had the right to defend myself!

The guy with the weird smile and short cut blond hair began to laugh. "Wow, I can't believe what I'm witnessing right now!" He said between fits of laughter. "She got you good, Shiro."

"Shut up!" Shiro roared, standing up and glared daggers at me. I automatically took a couple of steps back, not even realizing I was backing up, but I kept my own glare leveled with his. "You'll pay for that, little girl." He stalked forward again, but faster and with longer strides.

But before he could get to me a bombing voice rang through the crowd of people around us. "What is the meaning of this?!" We both look over to see an elderly man walk through the crowd of people and look pointedly at the two of us. He was bald and had a long white beard. In his right hand was a cane he held close to his body. If I wasn't mistaken that was Yamamoto, our school principle. There was no mistaking it.

Shiro scuffed, jerking his head to the side and rolling his eyes before giving the old man his full attention and giving the old man a fake smile. "Nothing Mr. Yamamoto-sama, we were helping our friend here who fell and broke his nose into the locker. We were going to take him to the nurse." I looked down at Keigo who was now sitting up and leaning against a locker while holding his bloodied nose. He looked up at Shiro with horror when he heard his name being called.

Yamamoto looked down at Keigo with narrowed eyes. "Is this true, Mr. Asano?" Keigo vigorously shook his head in agreement. I didn't blame the guy, if he confessed he probably would had been hounded by Shiro and his gang after school. Yamamoto finally turned his eyes to me. "You're the new student that just started today, am I correct?" When I nodded he continued. "Is this true, young lady?" I hesitated, but nodded my head as well. I didn't voice my reply, I didn't trust my voice at the moment. I was so pissed.

"I see. Well," Yamamoto turned around and began to walk away from us, his cane making clicking noises as he went his way. "See to it that Mr. Asano makes it to the nurse in a hurriedly fashion, Mr. Kurosaki."

"Yes sir," Shiro snickered when the old man disappeared down the hallway. He turned his attention back to me, all the anger from earlier disappeared. "Looks like today is your lucky day, little girl." He turned away to walk but stopped and turned his head to look back at me. "I like you. You'll be fun to play with in more ways than one for the rest of the school year."

And just like that, he left. Everyone around us whispered as they stared at me but soon went their own separate ways.

I stood there dumbfounded. My mind trying to comprehend everything that just happened in what only felt like ten minutes. I was fucked. No. That's putting it too lightly. I was dead.

Yep.

Dead.

And what the hell did he mean in more ways than one?!

* * *

_(I've decided to start another Bleach fanfic that's been nagging at the back of my head for the past couple of weeks. As you can tell this is an AU. I plan on bringing a lot of characters in from the series if I get far with this. It all depends on you guys if you want me to continue or not. I'll base it off of reviews, hits, favorites, and follows. Mostly reviews because the more you review the more people will want to read it. _

_Please, I'm looking for a beta-reader(s) for just this story or my other one, (or both). So if you're interested please PM me._

_I haven't decided if this is going to be a Shiro/oc, or Ichigo/oc fic. I will be adding a lot of fluff into this as well as other… things. Hope you enjoyed!)_


	2. Chapter Two: Enthralled

_Of Bullies and Lovers_

Chapter Two: Enthralled

The ceiling in my bedroom was too white for my liking. Not a scratch or crack in sight. Too plain. Too… normal. I was normal. I was a normal, sixteen year old girl.

Then why the hell did trouble always somehow, someway, found me? Of course, this time it was in the form of a white haired monster named Shiro Kurosaki. Now that I thought about it, his white hair couldn't have had been natural. Not unless he was albino, but then his eyes would be red. Maybe he wore contacts?

Ugh! I had to stop thinking about that bastard. Wasting my night thinking about him wasn't ideal to say the least. Bastard. I hated him.

Thankfully, the rest of the day I had to fill out paper work so I wasn't running around school for Shiro to have found me again. I wouldn't doubt it that he was looking for me. From what Keigo had told me, my next class after lunch was history, and in the class was that weirdo blonde dude named Shinji. He was one of the rich bullies that had his father 'donate' to the school on a regular bases. I wouldn't have doubted that the school's officials wouldn't suspend him or even give him attention in fear that his father would stop his 'generous' donations.

There I go again, thinking about him once more, or at least his stupid gang banger of a friend.

Ugh. I was useless.

The next morning I mostly kept to myself. I didn't want my older brother to know what transpired the other day. He had enough to worry about. But my little brother, on the other hand, kept on staring at me while he'd ate his cereal. I did my best to keep my eyes forward on my own food as I ate, but occasionally I would accidently give him a sideways glace to see if he was still staring. Yep. He still was. The sweat forming on the side of my face was probably a big indicator that I was hiding something. Yoshi wasn't a fool's brother. He knew what transpired at my old schools. I had hoped the infamous Shiro Kurosaki didn't reach middle school legends as of yet. Or, as of never.

When I arrived to school I tried my best to keep under the radar. Keeping my head down as I walked to class was no easy feat, I also was on the lookout for unnaturally white hair, my eyes scanning the surrounding areas as I walked. Nothing. No one seemed to notice me as well so gossip shouldn't have gotten to Shiro if someone decided to notice me and report me. When winter comes, hiding in an overly-sized coat should help disguise who I was…

Dammit! What the hell was wrong with me! Why am I thinking of hiding, anyways? I didn't hide! I never hide. Bullies didn't deter me. They never had before and I wasn't going to start then.

So, I walked the rest of the way to my locker with my head held high. I wasn't going to let Shiro win. Two could play at his sick game.

When I arrived at my locker I fiddled with the combination, and after the third try, I remembered the combination and opened my locker with a bang. I was so caught up in the moment of not being deterred, I'd ended up throwing my locker open in haste and excitement. When I'd received a couple of strange stares, I sighed to myself in idiocy. Calm down Naomi, now wasn't the time to get excited over nothing. You hadn't won yet. There was still a slim chance I would not win. I needed to keep an open mind and think everything through.

A hand snaked around my waist, pulling me out of my train of thought and making me slightly freeze when I felt a body pressed up against me and a chin laid lazily against my shoulder. "Why, good morning, little girl," the intruder whispered, his hoarse yet familiar voice made me shiver.

"What are you doing?" I'd tried my best to sound indifferent about the situation and giving my voice a slight sigh to it so I could sound annoyed at the same time, but he didn't seemed to mind. I reached down and grabbed his hands to remove them, but that only had him tighten his hold on me and ended up burying his face into my neck further as a result.

That was the closest I'd ever been to a guy. I'd never been touched like this before… he was really trying to get a rise out of me.

Wait… why the hell was he holding me like this? Didn't he want to kick my ass?

"Not returning my greeting? That's not very nice, little girl. That hurts my feelings," he muttered into my throat, sending electrical shocks down my spine. His lips were right there on my pulse! Did he plan on ripping my throat out with his teeth?

Okay, I needed to get realistic.

"Get the fuck off me pervert, before I make you," I spat out. His grip tightened further, now causing pain to shoot through my body. I was going to bruise after this little meeting. I had to get away from him before he tried anything else.

So, I elbowed him; hard. Very hard. Too hard that I didn't realize that he had rock solid abs that decided to act like a brick wall against my elbow. Oddly enough, I still somehow ended up hurting him, even though I was wondering who was in more pain. He loosened his grip on my waist just enough so I could rip away from his gritty, nasty grasp. But as I walked away to hurriedly get to next class in hopes to see Keigo before class started to gossip, I hand slammed near my face and into the lockers. I could had sworn it dented whosevers locker it belonged to, but I was too preoccupied with the person the hand belonged too to even see if it did. Shiro recovered fast, his menacing smile covering his face again like nothing happened. He cocked his head to the side, his golden eyes boring into mine.

"Still feisty I see," he snickered. I only glared at him, giving him my most defiant, I-don't-give-a-shit-about-you face. "I like feisty."

"Too bad I don't like stupid like you," I retorted. That was sort of lame, but I could still see something flicker in his eyes,

"I was wondering," he began, standing up straight and making me realize that he was leaning toward me before he stood erect. "Do you know anything about me? Any rumors?"

"Why do you want to know?" Now I was truly getting annoyed. If he wasn't going to try and pick a fight with me, why not just let me go about my business until he felt like it?

"Just curious. The way you act makes me wonder if you actually know the rumors about me." He began to play with a strand of my hair, but I swatted his hand away.

"I know enough to know that you're a good for nothing bully." That sounded like I was old fashioned. "That you're some gang leader and you're inhumanly strong. You're also a selfish ass that thinks he can get whatever he wants, too."

He full out laughed at me. Everyone that was brave enough to stare now looked away in fear that he would lash out at them. When he looked back at me, his eyes were sparkling mischievously. "I don't think I can get whatever I want, I know I can. But it seems you haven't heard all the rumors about me, little girl. You should be scared of me like the rest of the pansies that go to our school."

"Talking about your friends isn't nice, dumbass."

Again, his eyes sparkled with something I didn't quite understand. "Want to know what the rumors say about me?"

"Do I have a choice?" He smiled at my question we both knew the answer to.

"I'd killed someone. I rape defenseless, _little _girls. Terrorize people into committing suicide. Run my own bike gang. Set houses on fire of people I hate. Seek pleasure in tormenting people… and the list goes on and on and on." He paused for dramatic effect, like that would also change my mind about him. I didn't buy his bullshit, of course.

"So, what do you think now about me, little girl? Do you still want to defy-"

"Do you like to hear yourself speak or something?" I cut him off, not caring that he was frowning. "No. Nothing changed. You said those were rumors, right? Rumors are usually not true, dumbass."

"And the key word in that phrase is 'usually'." He was smiling again. I could see the sparkle in his eyes had grown. Suddenly, his fist came flying past my head and slammed into the lockers, making a loud banging noise. That one definitely left a mark on the poor defenseless locker.

"Beating up on lockers now, are we?" I said with a hint of a smile, acting like his little display didn't frighten me. Which, in fact, sort of did. I wasn't too keen on pain, no matter how many fights I'd been in. Suddenly his hand grasped my chin, pulling me forward until I was face to face with him again.

"I like that look in your eyes," he whispered hoarsely toward me. Was he getting turned on or something? Gross. "Keep it up and I might have to follow you home after school." He smiled wickedly, but again, I gave him an indifferent look, like I didn't believe him.

But, I sort of did. He was frightening me, but I was acting like he didn't which only seemed to fuel him. One thing had caught my attention.

"Why are you trying so hard to scare me?" I suddenly asked. My voice was low, almost a whisper. "Do I frighten you because I'm not scared of you? Is that it? If it is then there's something you should know about me. I don't frighten so easily. I see through your act, Shiro Kurosaki." I push his hand away, and surprisingly it took no effort at all to do so. He was frowning at me again, but I didn't linger on his face too long before I turned to leave.

"You can try to scare me but it won't work. I'll see you later." I said it so casually it was almost like we were friends.

When I walked away from him and received no response, I noticed something orange leaning against the lockers across from us. When I looked over I saw Ichigo staring at me. He wasn't smiling, in fact he still had that scowl on his face, but he was looking at me strangely nonetheless. I sighed and shook my head before walking to first period. I wasn't in the mood to deal with both Kurosaki brothers in one sitting.

* * *

"Naomi-chan!" Keigo yelled with glee when he arrived to class. Before he came in I was sitting in my seat trying my best to ignore the stares. If he hadn't had come around the time he did, I was about to crack and ask what the hell was so fascinating about me to continue their stupid staring. Keigo had both of his hands on my desk and was looking at me with wide, yet happily excited eyes. "I heard what happened this morning! Shiro confronted you at your locker and punches were thrown and he missed every single time! Are you a ninja or something?"

My smile was twitching under his gleeful stare. Rumors spread fast in this school; that was for sure. "Not exactly-"

"What do you mean not exactly?!" He cut me off.

"Well, he did throw punches-"

"And you dodged like a ninja!" Again, he cut me off.

"No! It wasn't like that. And stop cutting me off!" I chastised when he opened his mouth to cut me off again. "He threw punches but he wasn't trying to hit me. He was only trying to scare me and it didn't work."

"Scare you? But that doesn't sound like him at all?" He looked genuinely confused. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know and I don't really care. At least he didn't try beating anyone up this morning."

Keigo kept on pestering me about Shiro. I had to explain myself to him about three times until he finally got the picture. Shiro didn't try to beat me up. End of story. Of course, I'd kept out the part where he'd wrapped his gritty arms around me. Thinking about it gave me shivers.

"Oh, Ichigo," Keigo said wearily. I felt myself tense. Keigo was looking behind me and I knew Ichigo must had been behind me. Now that he was on my mind, I wondered how much he'd actually witnessed between Shiro and me. Was he there from the beginning? If so, then why didn't he stop his brother from practically molesting my throat and waist back there?

"What's up?" Keigo finally finished his sentence after a long pause.

"Aria…" Ichigo said calmly. I turned in my seat, my elbow placed on the back as I looked up at him. He was staring down at me, his usual scowl in place. I would have taken offense to the way he was looking at me if I didn't figure that was his usual facial expression.

"What's up?" I asked casually, forcing a smile to my lips. Like I'd said before: I wasn't in the mood to deal with both Kurosaki brother at the moment.

"Do you want to eat with us today during lunch?"

…

"Excuse me?"

His eyebrow twitched, a little irritated he had to repeat himself. "Do you want to join us for lunch? My idiotic brother shouldn't bother you while you eat with us."

There had to be a catch. Maybe he and his brother were secretly plotting against me, that Ichigo was actually just as sadistic as his brother but puts up a front and acts like the innocent one of the two. "Well, this is out of the blue. Why the sudden interest? I thought you didn't like me?"

"I never said I didn't like you, I just think what you did yesterday was stupid."

…

Way to be blunt.

This time, I felt my own eyebrow twitch. "Sorry to burst your bubble, _Kurosaki, _but I must decline." I turn in my seat to look ahead, my eyebrow now twitching uncontrollably.

I heard him sigh loudly behind me. "Look, if I offended you in anyway then I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm only trying to be nice to you."

"And why are you trying to be nice to me?" I didn't turn around when I'd spoke to him. I didn't want him to see my uncontrollable eyebrow twitching. "Let me guess, you pity me because your brother has targeted me to torment for the rest of my high school life?"

"That's not it at all!" I could hear the frustration in his voice. He was just about to say fuck it; I somehow knew he was going too. But, he decided to surprise me. Instead of just walking away and ignoring me, he walked around my table and stood in my view. He didn't do anything drastic like his brother would probably do, but he had his hands in his pockets and looked at me pointedly.

"I don't pity you at all. I just saw how you handled my brother in the hallway and I just thought… well, I never seen anyone talk to him like that before. You're not afraid of him?" He sounded genuinely surprised and curious at the same time.

I looked up into his eyes, my arms crossed with a little bit of defiance. "Of course not. I see right through his little façade. He likes the attention he gets from people, I'm not going to be one of them." I looked away from him to watch the teacher stroll on in.

"Good." Again, I was surprised. When I looked back up at him he had a small smile gracing the corner of his left lip. Damn. He looked nice when he smiled. "He needs the wakeup call that not everyone will bend for him, especially a girl." His smirk disappeared, becoming serious again. "But you need to be prepared for what comes next. He will get more aggressive until he gets you to where he wants."

This time I smiled. "I'm more than prepared for the likes of him." I could feel my own eyes sparkle for a reason I didn't know at the time. "He's the one that needs to watch out for me. I probably have more resolve than he does; he's going to get bored real quick when he keeps on getting the same results."

The teacher hushed us all and told everyone to return to their seats. I could still feel the smile on my face even as the teacher went through the homeroom announcements. Then, a thought crossed my mind. Maybe I could become good friends with Ichigo, like Keigo was, and maybe Shiro would just leave me alone. But as soon as the thought slithered into my mind I pushed it away. That would be too much drama and selfish on my part.

* * *

My next three classes went by slowly. Nothing special happened, I only had Keigo in those classes so I had nothing to worry about. Before fourth period, though, I took the risk of visiting my locker to get my lunch. I kept my head high like in the morning, and when I retrieved my lunch I didn't see any sign of Shiro or his stupid lackeys. It was a good idea to retrieve my lunch an hour before lunch had started. Shiro must had thought I would wait till the last minute.

Keigo walked me to the roof with both our lunches in tow. He was extremely happy that I was joining him and his friends for lunch. And, to tell you the truth, I was a little excited to meet new people too. I had friends in my other school, but not too many, and even though I was a target of a major bully, so far this school wasn't half that bad as I'd originally thought. Once Shiro was dealt with, I would probably learn to grow and love this school.

"Hey everyone!" Keigo cheered (I meant it, he sounded like he was cheering. He was too happy for his own good), when we were in view of his friends who were sitting in a circle getting their lunches out. There were more friends than I'd expected, but then again, the group was still small. I liked small groups. "This is Naomi-Chan-"

"So this is your girlfriend!" One if his friends with spikey red hair tied up in a ponytail, cut him off teasingly. He stood up and walked over to me, his eyes shifting up and down my body with a smile, like he was sizing me up. "I've heard a lot about you. The names Renji Abarai." He bowed and I bowed in return.

"Nice to meet you Renji." When I stood back up and looked at him he was giving me a toothy grin.

"So, I heard you beat up Shiro, huh?" He sounded way to enthusiastic about it, even if it was true.

"No. I didn't. Nothing happened." I couldn't keep the annoyance out of my voice, but he didn't seemed to mind, or he was too oblivious to notice.

"That's not what I heard. You beat him up, didn't you?" He looked me up and down again, but this time I felt like he was checking me out. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, and a little annoyed.

"Leave her alone, Renji," Ichigo's annoyed voice said from behind him. I peered behind Renji, who turned to look as well, to see Ichigo sitting on the ground with one hand propped up on his knee and was shaking his head at Renji. "I swear you're an idiot sometimes."

"Who you calling an idiot?" Renji growled. "I wasn't doing anything wrong." Suddenly, the Renji guy had his arm around my shoulder and was pulling me too him. "Besides, Naomi-_chan _doesn't mind a little attention, now don't you?" He was looking down at me with his toothy grin again. The way his grip tightened on my shoulder sort of… pissed me off.

I elbowed him in the stomach. He reeled forward and I escaped from his grasp. I didn't hit him too hard, just enough so he felt a little pain. He turned his head up to look at me accusingly. "Hey, what was that for?" He sounded kind of hurt.

"I don't like to be touched," I said nonchalantly. I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled down at the cringing red head. "Besides, I hardly even hit you. If you can't handle that then you're pretty pathetic." When he straightened up with a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks I couldn't help but laugh. "I have a feeling we'll be good friends." He turned red and looked away from me, mumbling something incoherent under his breath. Again, I laughed.

After Renji, Keigo, and I sat down to each lunch, I met everyone else in the group. Chad was one of the first to get introduced to me by Keigo. He was in the same year as me, (third year), which was a surprise for me. I was sure he was in his fourth with Renji, maybe even held back a year considering his size. Then there was Rukia who was a freshmen, which I'd grown to like in the little time we had together during lunch. She had the cutest bunny drawings and the way she made Ichigo squirm where he sat, like she was older than him or something, made me laugh, (Of course, Ichigo didn't like me laughing at him). Then there was Uryuu who was supposedly a genius, but didn't talk much besides greeting me when his name was called, (Keigo called him a genius, not me).

"There's usually more of us, but since it's the new school year, everyone's running around trying to get into clubs and signing up for after school activities for the rest of the semester," Keigo explained as he ate his sandwich. I nodded my head in understanding, digging into my own lunch. "Do you plan on joining any clubs?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe. I don't really know yet."

Our lunch was normal. We all talked about random things, Chad not saying a single word throughout our conversation, but I had a feeling he wasn't much of a talkative person in the first place. Even Ichigo was speaking to me, he asked me questions about where I'd lived before moving to Karakura town and what school I'd went too. I answered his questions but I was thankful he didn't ask why I'd left. But I had to admit to myself, it was nice having people to talk too. I'd expected by now to be sitting by myself somewhere eating my lunch alone, but this was a pleasant surprise. I would have never expected this would have been an outcome after two days before I started school.

* * *

Keigo walked me to my next class, his being the next one over and not finding it as a setback. This class as well as the next we didn't share. I was a little hesitant to enter seeing as I knew Shinji was in this class with me as well. Would he talk to me? I wouldn't know. I had no idea what the guy was like besides him finding amusement every time I'd punched Shiro.

Oh well. Now wasn't the time to be timid. Just walk in with your head held high and act like nothing was wrong. And that was what I did. I walked in with my head high and stopped in my tracks. They hadn't seen me yet, but both Ulquiorra and Shinji were in the classroom conversing with one another. Did Ulquiorra also had this class as well? I turned sharp on my heel and made a beeline to the corner of the room. I sat down with my book bag slung over the side of my chair and took my seat, not once looking to see if the two saw me. I waited patiently for the class to begin; both hands clasped in front of me and eyes closed as I waited.

"Well, what do we have here," a sly, slithery voice said from in front of me. I opened my eyes and glanced up to see the weirdly haircut of the blonde standing in front of my desk with one hand splayed across my desk and was leaning forward toward me.

"Nice to see your doing well…" puzzlement crossed his face as he stared down at me. "What's your name again?"

I could literally feel a sweat drop forming on the side of my face. "Naomi…?"

His smiled returned. "Ah, Naomi-chan, what a beautiful name, don't you think Ulgui?" He turned his attention to the green eyed boy in which I followed his gaze. Ulquiorra Cifer was sitting in the seat right next to mine and was pointedly looking straight at me, his gaze unmoving. He didn't answer but continued his unnerving stare. I stared back, or more like glared, not once blinking as we silently had a staring contest. A hand waved in front of my face, breaking my eye contact. My burning gaze moved back to the blonde who smiled down at me mischievously.

"What a menacing look, I'm truly frightened, Naomi-chan."

I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"And not a bit of fear, how interesting. I thought at least once you decided to speak your voice would give away your fear, but it looks like I'm mistaken."

"I don't want to repeat myself," I growled out, my hands balling in my lap from irritation.

"I don't want anything, I'm only observing," he finally answered, but wasn't satisfactory in my opinion. "Shiro has grown a liking to you. I never seen him so… interested in another until you came along. I'm curious to see why?" He was leaning in further toward me. I began to lean back. "It's interesting indeed. I really can't wait to see the outcome of all this."

"Are you done? Class is about to start and I don't want to piss off the teacher when she walks in and I'm still talking."

His smile widened. "Shiro said you had quite a mouth on you. Looks like he isn't lying." I rolled my eyes, unable to hold back any more of my irritation.

"Look, I don't know why you're even talking to me. Shiro is interested in me, so what? Why do you give a rat's ass? Why don't you scurry back to your green eyed lover over there and get back to your make out session so I can have a piece of mind before class starts." That seemed to startle him.

"What!?" he sounded genuinely flustered. I thought for sure he was going to lash out much like Shiro would have done. "L-lover? We're not lovers! And we weren't making out!" He was being a little too loud for comfort.

"Defending yourself so abruptly makes you seem guiltier." I couldn't help but snicker at his flustered state. He wasn't as bad as Shiro, so maybe I could stand his constant pestering which I was sure he was going to do every day in this classroom.

I felt an arm go around my shoulder and my eyes widen when I saw Shinji suddenly beside me and had my in his left arm. What was up with all these boys hugging me! "Look, I made her laugh!" He sounded like it was some kind of victory. "You look so beautiful when you smile and laugh. I think we'll be great friends, even if Shiro ends up hating you in the end."

I shoved him hard, making him stumble away from me with a smile. "Friends? Who said I wanted to be your friend?"

"I said so." He turned around and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't go far, instead he walked to the seat in front of me and sat down, turning so he was looking at me with that sly grin of his.

"We're going to be great friends! I just know it." I opened my mouth to protest but stopped short when the teacher walked in and quieted everyone in the class. I crossed my arms and watched Shinji turn forward in his seat with a snicker, a sneer forming on my lips.

Then I remembered Ulquiorra and turned to look over at him. He was still staring at me, and it looked like he didn't move once throughout our whole conversation. I sighed and looked away from him. I was beginning to outweigh the goods and bads of this school in my mind, wondering if the goods actually outweighed the bads. I was beginning to think it didn't.

I waited patiently for the bell to ring for the class to end. And once it did I was going to hightail it out of there and hurry to gym… in which I had both Kurosaki brothers attending. Hopefully Ichigo would let me hang with him during the class period. I was beginning to grow annoyed with everything that had to do with Shiro, even his so called friends.

When the bell rang I already had my things in my bag and was about to move toward the door when Shinji put his damn arm around my shoulders again. "And where do you think you're going?"

"To my next class, dumbass."

"Oh, don't you have gym next period? Why don't you wait up." He began to drag me towards the door, in which I obligated in hopes I could tear my way away from him as soon as we got out of class. "Shiro will be here any second now, he can walk you to class."

"I already have an escort, thank you very much," I spat out. Shinji only tightened his hold on me, almost diminishing all my hopes of getting away. But, of course, as soon as I was outside of the classroom and in the hall, someone was standing in front of me, and when I glanced up to see a head of white hair, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of frustration from leaving my lips.

"Why, little girl, what a pleasant surprise." His bronzy, golden eyes scanned over Shinji's arm draped over my shoulder. "Seems you're getting cozy with my friends."

"You know it," Shinji snickered, further tightening his hold on me before letting go. "We've already became such good friends, isn't that right Ulqui?"

When I looked over I saw Ulquiorra standing next to us, me just now noticing him. When did he get there? Again, he didn't answer, and the way both Shiro and Shinji were still smirking just told me that was the norm for him.

"No we haven't," I answered instead, backing away from the three, but Shiro's hand snaked out and grabbed my arm, halting my movement.

"Now that isn't nice, trying to walk away from your new friends while we're still talking to you? Where's your manors?"

"You're one to talk," I muttered, then froze when Shiro pulled me towards him.

"Will you stop that," I chastised, grabbing his hand in a vain attempt for him to let me go.

"And why would I do that?" Again, I found myself with someone's arm around my shoulders. My patience was growing thin. "You're too much fun to just… _stop,_" he snickered, arm tightening around me. My elbow flew back, making contact with flesh but not the flesh I was aiming for. His free hand gripped my elbow, snickering again when he saw my irritated look I was giving him. "I somehow knew you were going to do that."

Then my foot went flying up, hitting him hard in the kneecap. He let me go, hands flying to his knee in a failed attempt to dull out the pain. This time I was the one to snicker, but when he heard my light laugh, his burning eyes moved up to look at me.

"You better know how to run, little girl." Even though his words were filled with dripping malice and venom, he somehow had that sickly smile back to his lips.

"I don't run!" I spat back, trying not to show my fear at his slowly rising form. He was still smiling wickedly, but his eye burned with the desire to beat the shit out of me, I guessed.

He took a menacing step toward me, then another, until he was only a few steps away. Then, out of nowhere, I felt someone grab my shoulder and pull me back, causing Shiro to glare at the person behind me.

"Will you just leave her alone, Shiro? She obviously doesn't like to be touched by someone like you." I turned to see Ichigo now standing beside me with his hand on my shoulder. I let the breath I didn't know I was holding out and relaxed.

"Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo; what did I tell you about getting in my way?" he sounded like he was scolding a child.

"I'm not getting in the way of anything. I'm only stating the obvious. Besides, I'm supposed to walk Naomi to her next class. Isn't that right, Naomi?" He looked down at me expectantly and I nodded my head. "Did I interrupt something?" Now he was playing the clueless game. He finally let my shoulder go and turned toward the direction of my next class.

"Ready Naomi?" I nodded and walked with him. I couldn't help but look behind me. For a fleeting second I saw a frown of frustration on his face, but when our eyes locked he was smiling again. He waved at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Keigo told me what was happening. He got out of class to walk with you to your next class, but saw Shiro, Ulquiorra and Shinji ganging up on you," he explained, almost like he had to. I wouldn't have asked in the first place, but I listened nonetheless. "He really is an idiot. One person shows a little defiance and he obsesses over them."

"Why did you come to my 'rescue'? I had it under control." I didn't bother hiding my anger in my voice.

"It sure did look like it too," he snorted, he himself not hiding the sarcasm. "I'm getting sick and tired of how he's acting. To answer your question, I didn't want him to control one of the only people that isn't afraid of his stupidity." We stopped in front of the gym doors. He turned to me with a small smirk on his lips.

"You need to go talk to the gym teacher to get your clothes. He should be in the office at the far end of the gym."

I nodded. He began to walk away but I reached out and gently grabbed his arm. "Hey, can I ask you something?" When he turned and gave me his full attention, I continued, "Why is Shiro so interested in me anyways? Why can't he just leave me alone?"

He was frowning now. "I wouldn't say interested, more like – enthralled."

"Enthralled?" My voice squeaked, not believing what he was saying. Did he even know what that word meant?

"Yeah, you're the first girl to show you're not afraid of him and the first he hasn't been able to control after his attempts to scare you. You've definitely caught his eye; the good and the bad."

* * *

_(Author's note: This was supposed to come out Monday, but since it was Christmas week, I've been busy… drinking… a lot. _

_Anyways, the next chapter will have time skip(s). Don't know how many, but I'm not one to have someone 'fall in love' after only a couple of days. It unreal and OOC. I hate reading stories like that, it's quite annoying._

_So far the score is: Ichigo – 0, Shiro – 1, and undecided – 1._

_Also, I just want to clarify that my other story, Careless Wonder, which is an Ichigo/oc romance fic, will get more attention than this one since it's really kicking off, especially on other sights. Review!)_


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